Television

Anupam Kher gets chatty with stars

MUMBAI: Whoever said what’s in the name hasn’t met Shah Rukh Khan then. The baadshah of the Indian film industry is known by many names, Rahul being the most popular one.

But would things have been the same if he was named Abdul Rehman as per his grandparents’ wish? The star’s parents went ahead with Shah Rukh Khan which means face of the king, maybe the real reason behind his success.

It has never been written or heard of. But things are going to change as actor Anupam Kher will ask intriguing questions to the people we idolize and sometimes worship on his latest show, ‘The Anupam Kher Show – Kucch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai.’

Come 6 July and the show will present viewers with unprecedented glimpse into the lives of their favourite celebrities, as they reveal stories of faith, hope, struggle, victory and success every Sunday at 8pm on Colors.

The channel synonymous with celebrities, recently through its show, Mission Sapne, got celebrities to live the life of a common man, and with the new show, it will set new heights as celebs will talk about their journey from ‘aam’ to ‘khaas’.

The show is an extension of Kher’s popular autobiographical play ‘Kucch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai’.

Colors CEO Raj Nayak recalls the moment when 10 years back Kher invited him and his family for the premier of ‘Kucch bhi Ho Sakta Hai’. “Those days I hardly knew anybody in Bollywood. Anupam was the first few people whom I knew. The show was exciting and it is then that I told him, why don’t we put this on television?”

Six months back, they met and decided upon it as they thought the time was right. And from there it all started; however, Nayak wanted the show to be different from his play. He didn’t want Kher to speak about his life, his sacrifices etc like in the play but about others.

According to Nayak the beauty of the show will be its no fixed format or structure. More so, he didn’t even want it to be scripted. For him, the show should make one cry or laugh naturally, while giving an insight into the life of celebrities like never before.

For Colors digital head Vivek Srivastava, Kher has a charming personality and the fact that he knows everybody in the industry proved to be an advantage. “Kher was completely clear in his mind that he is going to chat with people about aspects which are not regular, something which will show a different side of a star. The fact that he is friendly with most of them and the fact that he knows so much about their lives, people opened up automatically,” he says.

With the set created only for 20 days at Filmcity, all the episodes have already been shot. The team consists of only five-six members including two researchers.

The biggest challenge for the entire team was what content to keep and what to cut. “Every episode, the conversations went on for hours. So, it got difficult for us to chop it into an hour’s content,” informs Srivastava.

The channel has got Jyothi Laboratories’ Henko on-board as the powered by sponsor.

Colors is always known for its heavy digital marketing. Apart from the regular push, the aim is to bring the show alive on the digital platforms. Fans will get to interact with Kher, keeping the spirit of the show live. An application on Facebook called ‘Reading the true sides of the people’ has been created which will through questions try to unravel the kind of personality one is.

“As the show progresses, one will also see a rise in the amount of engagement activities with the fan,” adds Srivastava.

The channel expects good ratings for the show, unlike Mission Sapne which did not deliver good ratings despite having celebrities on-board. Says Nayak, “Mission Sapne was a hatke show. But, unfortunately for MS, it came right in the middle of IPL. Had we delayed the launch, maybe we would have got much better ratings. But for us, it was a huge success and profitable because none of the stars charged us to come onboard. And the same is with the upcoming property.”

Nayak and his programming team know that talk shows do not give ratings, but he is confident that Kher’s show will work wonders for the channel. “For me it is not a talk show, it is an Anupam Kher show. We as a channel have been known for showing cutting-edge content.”

Nayak believes that today audiences are very demanding and there is nothing like channel loyalty but viewers are more loyal towards programmes. Already expecting a successful season one, the channel has plans to get season two in the coming months. It plans to get new faces on-board every time.

According to a highly placed media planner, considering it’s a Sunday property, it might not get the ratings it expects. “The concept is nice, something catchy, but viewers are very demanding at the end-of-the-day. Content has to be really strong to keep the audience engaged.”